I am looking at a beautiful photograph of a young mother and her son. She has long brown hair and her arms are wrapped protectively around her beloved child. This is Annie and her son’s name is Domenic. They have been ripped apart by their government. In June 2009 Swedish police boarded a plane bound for India, Annie’s home country where they were moving to be close to her family, and kidnapped Domenic,

“Without a warrant or reasonable cause to believe he was being harmed.”

Today is Domenic Johansson’s 12th birthday. He was abducted from his parents by the Swedish government at age 7 for his parents’ “crime” of homeschooling him. In extreme cruelty, the Swedish government has refused to reunite this child with his loving parents and instead handed him off to be raised by strangers and attend government school. Domenic is the Johanssons’ only child.

His parents are not allowed to see or communicate with him, even on his 12th birthday. Because the Swedish government is keeping Domenic isolated from his parents, Domenic doesn’t even know that his parents love him, or that they desperately long to be reunited and have been fighting vigorously all these years to end this egregious violation of their family’s rights.